For example - Warm and Natural says quilt up to 8" apart. If I make a strip quilt and stitch across at say 6" intervals, need I also stitch parallel to these lines? If I don't do that I leave long "tunnels" of quilt top and batting and backing from side to side in each strip at 6" apart. I asked a good quilter friend, and she and I tossed this about for awhile and we decided I should do the vertical lines as well.

SO, I decided to also do 6" apart down from top to bottom, which made 6"squares of quilting grid across the back. Now, my question is if anyone would leave it with the first set of lines only? I can find no information on the manufacturer's sites about the measurements they say you need. 8" apart or 8" apart in every direction?!

It was explained to me that the distances cited describe the space between parallel lines of quilting - e.g. channel quilting.

HOWEVER.... I don't care what any manufacturer says, 8" apart is WAYYYY too far apart to maintain the structural integrity of the quilt. Hey, most of us baste or pin closer together than that! While the batting may survive such sparse stitching, the rest of the quilt will wear before its time, as there will be lots more stress on each stitch than if it were quilted closer, particularly if the piece is used and laundered. Even if the item is wall hanging, gravity is going to cause unsightly sagging, which could also cause the piece to fail prematurely.

Quote: I would interpret it to mean that if you pick any point on the quilt that there will be some stitching somewhere within 4 inches of that point (a 4" radius circle)

That's what I think they must mean, but I don't see that all the time, and they do NOT specify on the Warm and Natural bag. 8" really doesn't tell us what they mean. If I sew my 6" lines across the quilt I have tunnels in there (tunnels? channels?) that are several feet wide, so I surmised that it MUST mean 8" as you describe - 8" from each point on an invisible radius, but that would put my next line near enough to the last line unless you figure the other direction, which I then did figure. It should be made more clear. :)

Quote: It was explained to me that the distances cited describe the space between parallel lines of quilting - e.g. channel quilting.

Thank you for the nomenclature here. Channel quilting. Yes, I am pretty sure I didn't want 6" apart channel quilted for active boys quilts! I used 6" because that was my basic working block size that I varied up to 18" in some places. Units of 6" was a good measure, and the 6" blocks that now appear on the back should do the trick. I hope. I think you all, and still think the manufacturers should state what they mean by the "distance." And yes, indeedy - I pinned much more closely than that before I started quilting.

Thanks Jennifer for putting this into such succinct terms, as I was having some trouble getting out what I meant!

I know this is a very late reply, but i had the same question today and came across this thread in a google search. found the answer (at least, the answer in regard to warm & natural batting) on the company's FAQ page here:
http://www.warmcompany.com/wnpage.html

here is the Q & A:
Q: I love your batting and use it for all of my quilts. I love the crinkled look after washing my quilt. I have a question about quilting 10" apart. Does that mean 10" in all directions? If my sashing is 4 inches wide, but 40" long, do I need to quilt every 10 inches inside the sashing or is it adequate to just quilt along the 4" wide edges and leave more than 10 inches going the opposite direction?

A: -Thank you! That is perfectly fine! As long as one direction is quilted every 10", you are free with the other direction.

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